A Late Review of My Little Pony: The Movie · 1:29pm Oct 22nd, 2017
Yesterday I watched the movie with my sister and my niece, who is all of two. My niece sat on my lap for most of the movie, mesmerized. She didn't seem scared at any point, but she did start to get bored about an hour into it, and turned around to look at me and play with my necklace.
What did I think of the movie? Well, often with the season finales and EG movies, I write down my excited first reactions. But since I'm late to the party this time, I'm going to share my broader, spoiler-free thoughts before getting into some observations that haven't been mentioned much by other reviewers.
After reading some criticisms about the pacing, plot, and characterizations, my expectations were lowered. As a result, I enjoyed the movie immensely. Was it perfect? Hardly. But it was wonderful to see the lovely 2D animation of our favorite ponies on the big screen. The redesign of the throne room is gorgeous. And the songs are great, with two of them being Disney-quality, which is fine with me. I would say that they made up for the dip in song quality in S7. Plus, this movie was funnier than I anticipated. Not all of the jokes landed, but enough of them did that I laughed throughout the movie. There were plenty of jokes and references that only made sense if you watch the show, which I appreciated. At the same time, if you watch the movie with a friend who isn't a fan, they probably won't be totally lost and in the dark. The beginning of the movie establishes the main characters and the country of Equestria so newcomers should get the gist.
I thought the pacing wasn't that bad. It was a bit hard to tell how much time passed, but that didn't really bother me. The climax seemed the most rushed, but that's common for a lot of the episodes in the show. And I wouldn't have minded if the story had taken a few more moments to breathe. But it wasn't as rushed as I anticipated.
The plot was good overall. It had a few holes, although some can be explained when you consider that this was written before the end of S5.
I found Capper and Tempest to be the most interesting and well-developed of the new characters. They had actual arcs and learned friendship lessons. I'll write more about them in the spoiler section.
This isn't a spoiler if you've viewed the trailers, but parrot pirates are awesome purely on a conceptual level. Why hasn't this been a thing before now?
The movie didn't give as much inspiration for new fanfics as I expected it to, but I do want to try to work some of the new creatures and countries into the fanfics I'm currently working on.
So, before I get into spoilers, I highly recommend you watch this movie on the big screen if you haven't yet. Go into it expecting a long, good episode, and that's basically what you'll get. However, another reviewer said that he got more enjoyment by thinking of it as its own self-contained movie instead of part of a TV show. At any rate, I certainly felt like I got my money's worth.
And now: Spoilers ahead!
As I said, I'm going to focus on things that most people haven't commented on. First, the cover of “We Got the Beat” is the only song I didn't particularly care for. It gets you pumped up, but it doesn't set the mood since it doesn't go with any of the original songs, nor does it move the plot forward in any way.
The anthro animals don't seem to fit this world of talking ungulates and creatures from known myths. But on the way home, I thought about it and realized that the Diamond Dogs could be an isolated subspecies of this race. Setting aside the character design, I did find Capper's personality appealing, and I wanted to see more of him. I would've preferred for him to join the Mane Six and Spike instead of being stuck with Tempest and having nothing to do until near the end.
Anthro animal: Hey, you with the horn. Are you selling?
Me, muttering: Um, which one with the horn?
Speaking of horns, I feel conflicted about Tempest's horn staying broken. On one hand, I respect that the movie didn't fix everything. Tempest is still broken, but she's going to be okay despite that. On the other hand, with alicorn magic, you'd think they could do something to help Tempest. Maybe the horn can't be regrown because Reasons, but perhaps Tempest could get a prosthetic made of crystal. It's clear that she still has magic; she just has difficulty controlling it without a spiral horn. Plus there was that unicorn that was treated for a broken-off horn in “Where The Apple Lies,” but, you know, that was after S5.
Grubber was not only pointless to the plot, he was even pointless as comic relief! Tempest made a few sarcastic comments, and the Storm King was pretty sarcastic. Between the two of them, there was enough comedy for their scenes when the movie called for it. There was no need for that chubby hedgehog and his mostly dud jokes.
It's odd that the hippogriffs' faces became equine and their talons became hoof-fins when they turned aquatic. It's a strange design choice. Nonetheless, the hippogriffs are a welcome addition to the series lore.
Is it just me or did it look like Twilight could've fit through the bars of the cage? I think she could've crouched down to the widest part at the bottom and squeezed through if she tried.
With all the cameos of background ponies, I couldn't help noticing the absence of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. It's possible that they were in a crowd shot and I missed them, but it would've been nice if the CMC had gotten a little scene at the festival. But I understand that the movie was already stuffed with characters as it was.
Spike got the shaft compared to some of the other characters, especially during the underwater scenes. But he did get his moments to shine, including a few scenes that made excellent use of his fire breath.
Applejack and Fluttershy unfortunately weren't given as much to do as the other Mane Six, either. I get that the movie juggled a lot of characters, but I was a little let down about AJ in particular, since she's still one of my favorites. However, they both had some small but nice character moments. Fluttershy spent time with her birds and other animals, and she surprisingly gave me one of the biggest laughs when one of the Storm King's soldiers made as if to attack her and she just stares at him with puppy dog eyes and says, “Do you want to talk?” Applejack used her lasso a few times, and apparently she was born in a barn, and spent most of her formative years in one. And it makes sense that she had trouble understanding why the hippogriffs would abandon their home and spend the rest of their lives as a different species.
I stayed through the credits and was rewarded with the sight of Pinkie Pie dancing with the Hippo Queen. If these credits are a true continuation of the movie, either there really is a Queen of the Hippopotami, or this is Discord having a little fun.
Many have wondered when this movie is set in the show timeline. My take is that it would have to be sometime after “No Second Prances” because Starlight is seen hanging out with Trixie. But it's most likely set before the S6 finale since the Mane Six don't think of seeking help from Thorax.
On a final note, most of my criticisms are nitpicks. It truly was a pleasant movie. I can't wait to see if and how the writers will work the new creatures into the show.
Ok
We do see the other Crusaders... during Twilight's return to the subjugated Canterlot. The three of them are sharing a cage.
But yeah, there's definitely some rich material to be had here. And I still remain convinced that the pirates are harpies that follow the "no obviously human bits" rule of Equestria's ecology. When your captain is named Celaeno and you're transporting unicorns, the homage is pretty clear.
4705037
Must've been a blink-and-you-miss it moment. Gives me another reason to watch the movie again, if nothing else.
That makes sense, like Tirek being a centaur with a goat face.
The one thing the little hedgehog thing does is keep Tempest from full out wangsting. She gets enough serious moments to set up her character, but other than the song they're immediately undercut with nonseriousness. Imagine if he wasn't there and she spent all the time of his lines blithering on how terrible not being horny is.
I rather liked it, though it's strongest in the throwaway lines, tempest, and capper. Definitely not meant to fit into a timeline; it's like the Link's Awakening version of the first few seasons.
4705047
Given the quality of Grubber's comedy, I think I'd prefer wangst. Humor is subjective,but only a couple of is jokes made me chuckle.
As for the timeline, maybe it is best to save ourselves the headache of trying to fit it neatly into the series.
If there's a sequel, it could be a huge improvement.
4705205
I hope they make a sequel.
4705198
He can't get good jokes, he's the dim one of the Two Bad guys. I think they could have replaced with nearly anything and been better, but he does still serve a purpose in interrupting.
1. Been confirmed by Big Jim on Twitter. The movie canonically falls between seasons 7 and 8.
Strange I know but yea.
2. Sweetie Belle is absent. But Scoots can briefly be seen in the cage with Applebloom later in the film. Depressing I know.
3. Overall when you realize the movie had to have a broad base compared to the show and not pander (much. We all saw Derpy got her moment to shine and talk) its actually quite good. Obviously there will be many canon issues. Like where was those characters from the s7 finale? Why didnt they help? Etc.
4. Hippogriffs will return. Skystar is confirmed to appear sometime in season 8. Hopefully they blend her into the show well!
4706595
It is strange to think of it taking place after the changeling transformation and the Pillars of Light returning. The writers are going to have to explain these characters' absence during the movie, aren't they? Otherwise it's going to bug me.
That's cool. I wonder if they can get Kristen Chenoweth to do her voice again? If they can't, I'd be ok with them recasting Skystar's voice.
I hope they take the reworked designs of Canterlot and the throne room that puts Celestia and Luna on an equal footing, and put that in the show, because that stuff is amazing. Also, the latter is just something that makes sense to do before Luna starts wondering why she's getting less respect now than when she went Nightmare Moon in the first place...
4717743
I agree. If they wanted to explain the change, a line of dialog about remodeling the throne room would do the trick.